Nigeria

Ghana and Nigeria are struggling beneath the weight of Afcon history | Osasu Obayiuwana

18-Jan-2024 08:00:03 | The Guardian

The Black Stars and Super Eagles have strong pedigree in the competition, but fans are growing restless after a string of losses

Between them, Ghana’s Black Stars and Nigeria’s Super Eagles have won a total of seven Africa Cup of Nations titles. Nigeria won the last of their three titles 11 years ago. For fans in Africa’s most populous country, who view triumphs at Afcon as a birthright, that’s a triumph in another lifetime. For their perennial arch-rivals Ghana it is indeed approaching a lifetime since they won their fourth title, in Libya in 1982.

Having dominated African football in the 1960s and 1970s, the 42-year Afcon drought has left Ghanaians nostalgic for glories past. Anthony Yeboah, a two-time winner of the Bundesliga golden boot, with Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg, admits that a failure to win an Afcon championship for Ghana is a huge stain on an otherwise sterling career.